March 2001 80s Classic: Kane Roberts

They simply don't make them like this anymore. Metal no longer holds media attention (even if it is all underground or overseas attention... metal in the US? Bah!) unless there's a 60 piece orchestra, 5 lead singers, 8 guest musicians, and lyrics that tell SOME kind of story, be it fantasy or sci fi or what-have-you. Or else they sing about love and go the AOR route. There's little in-between. What happened to our daily doses of sleaze metal, where sex was the issue and sang about loudly by hulking men that truly looked like they could get any woman they wanted and do just as their lyrics suggested? It seems to be buried in the 80s along with woodgrain electronics, He-Man (or She-Ra depending on your preference) and beta VCRs.

Never fear however! Those that are sick of medieval metal tales, apocalyptic references and tender odes to love need to look no further for their filthy fix than Kane Roberts self titled release. Kane is one of two very notable escapees from the Alice Cooper dungeon, the other being Kip Winger who went on to form... yeah you know the Winger story already but what about Kane?...

Kane Roberts was the Rambo of the guitarworld, sporting an axe styled like a machine gun and an Arnold Schwarzenegger-like physiche, he was the guitar whizz for Alice Cooper's 80s comeback, even co-writing most of the material to appear on "Constrictor" and "Raise Your Fist and Yell". But soon he had to break out on his own, and that he did, with two albums, including the superb AOR classic "Saints and Sinners", but it was his debut gem from the end of the 1980s that gained him respect as not only a well muscled guitar hero, but also as a singer/songwriter.

Roberts delivers the music in force, in a tough and rumble package that strays not too far from his Alice days, but does show him wishing to pursue the commericial side of metal. There are hints of the polished grit riffage of Iron Maiden, the rawness of Malice, dashes of the earliest Europe, a little Manowar cheesiness, but a huge chunk of an orgy of AOR/pop metal sounds ranging from glammy Ratt and Poison to bands that had a little more finesse and some fairly cutting edge melodic choruses that have more in common with the pop metal acts than anything else. Kane's voice is superb, perhaps more of a standout than his guitar playing, which is also top notch. His vocal tone is almost totally free of accent, it's very masculine and smooth, a welcome change from the gravel throated glammers and those that squeak/screamed the lyrics, both of those styles were in extreme abundance. Of note is the fact that Kip Winger lends some backing vocals to the disc.

01.] "Rock Doll" - Pure sexy'n'sassy glam, with a bluesy swaggering swing a'la later Ratt ("Reach for the Sky", "Detonator") but a polished shine and bass thump that seems more along the lines of Poison.

02.] "Women on the Edge of Love" - Wild and free melodic metal about those insatiable sexual appetites. The keyboards firmly bind this track to the decade it originated from, and feels overall like a something that came from Bon Jovi;s "7800 Fahrenheit", but injected with a huge dose of testosterone and vocals that are much more masculine.

03.] "Triple X" - Forget the pompous AOR arrangements of "Saints and Sinners", this is where the blueprint for that album was made, and in my opinion is Kane's finest moment. So what if it seems to be about a prostitute, the chorus is absolutely heavenly... "Triple X! it's only sex til it crosses the line!" It's emotional, with a moody acoustic brimming bridge, and with absolutely killer vocals by Roberts. And the guitar solo... razor sharp, piercing the song like a needle with a slab of melodic coating oozing underneath, bleeding into the ending which is comprised of that fantastic pure 1980s chorus repeated til fade.

04.] "Gorilla" - Warped effects and then just when you think it's over, comes either raging shredding or even more effects. It really sounds like a big ape lumbering through a jungle or climbing on the Empire State Building eating helicopters as the blades rip wildly into the beast's flesh. If you think that description is bizarre, then check out this instrumental.

05.] "Outlaw" - Nice 'lite' headbanger showing Kane Roberts doing a more in-your-face delivery than seen on the disc yet.

06.] "If This is Heaven" - A superb song with a real East Coast vibe, kind of like mixing the summery-feel of David Lee Roth's mid 80s material and Lillian Axe's sophisticated edge. The chorus, although repeated numerous times, is packed with such fire and melody that it could be repeated another ten times and still not wear on the nerves.

07.] "Out For Blood" - This one is a no frills heavy metal song with silly backing vocals that take over the entire tune. It shows it's age, but there's little fault to be found in the guitar work. Simplistic but... yawn... not even near the standards of what he's capable of.

08.] "Full Pull" - Those backing vocals have returned, but this song is everything that made the 80s such a great decade to live in. Pure excess, everything is over the top, even the man and machine lyrics, with apparently a woman tossed in there too judging by the line.. "long legs up on the dash." Under the dash, this one is powered by a hundred horses, slamming their hooves down to the beat of "a thousand miles an hour." It is nearly impossible to not be suckered in to this track simply because of it's glossy shine.

09.] "Too Much For Anyone to Touch" - Kane's at it again with yet another well built track that follows along the lines of some of the pop metal giants reigning supreme in this time frame. Pure class in the tastefully extravagant guitar solos trilling in their two cents more often than not. For some reason this one reminds me of what Lillian Axe/XYZ would later be doing.

10.] "Tears of Fire" - "She had a hand in my sex education.." whoa now.... haven't we heard enough? Apparently not since Roberts is absolutely determined to give us the naughty bits in detail... even if this time it's bathed in rather romantic prose but then... "this ain't love, it's pure desire! Sometimes it's easy to forget the pain, but I still remember, baby, when she CAME!!!" But he sings it with so much innocent-sounding passion that it's easy to ignore as his lyrics slide back into pretty rose coloured fantasy. The style of the song? Absolute AOR, that teeters on the edge of power ballad and done beautifully at that. The abrupt close seems to fit it perfectly.

11.] "A Strong Arm Needs a Stronger Heart" - No doubt to fend off all the ladies right? More keyboard laden AOR but carved into its soul is a forceful biting metallicness and high flying guitar heroices that melt this well built tune at it's core.

After 1991's "Saints and Sinners", Kane dropped off the face of the metal lovin' earth after finding a new outlet for his creative energies. The result was a 1996 PC game called "The Lords of Tantrazz" which saw Kane teaming up with Alice Cooper outside of the music biz, as Cooper does the voice of the ultimate evil in the game. Almost ten years after "Saints and Sinners", Kane returned with a new band, Phoenix Down (yes it's named after the Final Fantasy potions!), and hopefully we'll hear more of him in the future, but so far nothing compares with the raunchy classics of a decade gone by.

Kane's self titled is more AOR than one could be lead to believe, however he often can't make up his mind if he wants his music to be sleaze glam, Malice-like rawer metal with Manowar cheddarness or a streamlined made-for-radio, hit-making AOR machine, although as everyone knows he figured out just where he stood in this identity crisis with his critically acclaimed follow up. This first solo outing might not be a landmark album in the genre, but is packed to the hilt with awesome songs bent on 80s commercialism, and even though they might bounce around sappily at times, their lyrical heart is often sleazier than their musical exteriors. Packing an (at times) blistering punch, plenty of heart & soul, and a thick coat of addictiveness, I can recommend this to anyone that likes it served up melodic style with glam tendancies on the side.

Ratings and Wrap Up:
8.5
Songs - 7.9, Performance - 8.5, Production - 8.0, Lyrics - 7.5
Hot Spots: "Triple X", "Too Much For Anyone To Touch", "Tears of Fire"
Bottom Line: sleazy but surprisingly AOR

Review by Alanna Evans -
who thinks that the cover is quite delicious

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